Acts 26:32 What If’s

Acts 26:32 Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.”

There are definite moments in life when the “what ifs” seem to overtake us. It sometimes takes the form of “if only” or “Why didn’t I?” Have you had these moments in your life? I know I have.

My dad was walking the street in Boston, MA, having just returned from WWII. He served in the Pacific in the Navy, ending up occupying Japan after their surrender. He lived in the Boston area and was going to university there.

He walked the street that day and saw a man with a small table trying to get people to invest in his invention. For only $1000 dollars, people could get in on the ground floor of this invention. My dad had the $1000 dollars, but chose not invest. That man was Edwin H. Land, the co-founder of Polaroid Corporation. My dad could have been a founding stock owner of that very successful venture.

Several years ago, when BitCoin was first starting, I looked at investing in BitCoin when it was around $1800. It is around $40,000 now. If only! We met friends recently whose son-in-law did invest, and then sold when it was near its high. He made lots of money.

As we get older, we have a tendency to ask these types of questions, to look back and wonder if we could have done life differently. This is a normal part of life as a human. I think the earlier we do this in life, the better life will be for us. We tend to make better choices when they are made with a longterm perspective in mind.

In our text, the Roman leaders are trying to figure out what to do with Paul. The Jews have accused him of crimes, but the Roman authorities have found no evidence to support their charges. Just like with Jesus, there was no evidence presented that supported the charges.

But they have a dilemma; Paul has appealed to Caesar. And once someone appeals to Caesar, there is no way to withdraw that appeal. The officials know Paul is not guilty of the charges, but their hands are tied.

And who has tied their hands? Paul himself made the appeal. Paul has sealed his own fate.

Or has he? Where is the hand of the LORD in all this? What is the role of the Holy Spirit’s leading in Paul’s life?

Sometimes it can be hard to discern God’s leading in some circumstances. We have a tendency to hear God’s will as being what will lead to the lest painful path for us, the one that we would choose if we had a choice. But often the LORD’s will is the difficult path, not the easy path. It is the path of most resistance!

What if Paul had not appealed to Caesar? How many more letters would we have of his? How many more churches would he have been instrumental in establishing? How many more people would have been trained in the faith as a result of his extensive stays in cities? How far would he have journeyed?

We just don’t know! We know he went to Rome and was under guard there. He reached members of Caesar’s household with the Gospel message. Some came to faith. But was this an efficient use of his time and energy? That certainly isn’t a twenty-first century outlook on what happened.

I am sure Paul had the “what if’s” as he sat in prison in Rome. But he didn’t let these questions interfere with his witness and mission. Do we let the “what if’s” get in the way of what God is calling us to do?